Obtaining Auto Insurance for Student Drivers
Student drivers, especially teenagers, find it difficult to get a car insurance company to insure them. You can be a student driver at any age but the older you are, the less of a risk you are to insurance companies. So while your premium costs will be high since you are a new driver, they will not be as high as those for new teenage drivers. Lower policy rates for student drivers are achievable if the following conditions are met.
Complete Driver Education Classes
One way for a teen driver to get considered for car insurance is to complete a reputable driver education program. These classes include instruction on driving laws as well as hands-on driving lessons. There are different levels of driver education. Most students complete the basic level. But insurance companies prefer the advanced level because it includes instruction on defensive driving, bad weather driving, and how to avoid a crash. Insurance companies offer deeper discounts for this advanced instruction with the expectation that teenagers will be better drivers.
Drive a Safe Car
New drivers want the coolest car on the block. But to get a discount on their insurance, they need the safest car available. When calculating rates, insurance companies consider the type of vehicle teenagers will be driving and the cost associated with repairs or replacement if the teenager is involved in an accident. Do not skimp on safety to get a lower rate – teenagers need a safe car more than they need to save a few bucks on their insurance costs.
Achieve Good Grades in School
Just about all insurance providers have “good student” discount programs that allow students to submit their report cards to receive a reduction in premiums. The thought behind this is that if teens can work hard enough to make good grades, they will probably be just as diligent with their driving.
Establish Credit
Teens may be able to get a small department store credit card that their parents co-sign for so they can establish personal credit. Again, auto insurance companies correlate the teen’s ability to manage their credit with their driving ability and will lower rates for those teen’s who establish personal credit.
This article examines ways student drivers, especially teenagers, can get auto insurance discounts on coverage. By meeting certain criteria, student drivers can obtain affordable auto insurance that offers quality coverage in case of an accident.
Filed under Articles | Comment (0)Higher prices does not mean better treatment
As we all know, the Affordable Care Act is intended to give insurance cover to a significantly wider pool of people. As it stands, more than 50 million Americans are without access to health cover they can afford. This leads to a higher number of avoidable deaths than in other countries. Indeed, there’s a new piece of research from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development which proves conclusively that spending more money of medical treatment does not, of itself, produce better outcomes for the patients. Taking America as a classic example of the problem, we spend more than any other country per head but, in the 34 countries studied, we rank 26th in terms of life expectancy. Whereas Japan spends about half what we spend but has the best life expectancy of all. Why is this the case?
The problem is what we spend the money on. With health insurance companies prepared to pay, we opt for all the available tests in the hope they will give us certainty of diagnosis and identify the best treatment options. Yet our costs are also driven up because of the number of uninsured. We have the ironic situation that, when the uninsured come to an ER, they often require more expensive treatments. That cost is absorbed by the hospitals and either passed on to the insurance companies or to the taxpayers. If there’s an active policy of encouraging preventive medicine, illnesses are discovered early and the treatments are far cheaper. Yet our hospital system fights against this because, if people are treated before they are ill enough to come into hospital, the hospitals make no money.
Now when you add in the excessive amounts of food and alcohol we consume, and the fact such a high percentage of the population continue to smoke, you understand why our health insurance costs are so high. To bring this situation under control, we need everyone to see their doctor on a regular basis for routine wellness monitoring. Education to change lifestyles is absolutely necessary. We also need government to impose price controls on the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, we need to train more doctors and build more hospitals. It might surprise you that we have one of the lowest number of hospital beds per head of population in the world. Only then will health insurance costs fall and treatment outcomes improve.
Filed under Articles | Comment (0)Cheap life insurance for stay-at-home parents
If you go back to the 1950′s and earlier, our culture was built on the assumption that women would get married at the earliest age, produce children and look after the man who brought in the money. Then along came the 1960′s and the seeds of a sexual revolution were sown, feminism emerged, and assumptions changed. Today, it’s no longer assumed a couple will marry, birth-control is more routine as the falling birthrate shows, and more women go out to work. Indeed, more women than men are going on to high education and getting better grades and higher-rated qualifications than men. Nevertheless, if women do give into the biological urge, they usually fall into the traditional role of homemaker, i.e. they do the cooking and cleaning, nurse the children when they are sick and, when the young are fit and healthy, drive them to soccer practice or whatever else distracts them from texting their friends. At this point, the family is dependent on one parent bringing in enough money to pay all the bills. When thinking about life insurance, it is therefore not unreasonable to focus on the breadwinner. Without him, the family would be in immediate trouble.
Unfortunately, this ignores the reality of the multiple roles the stay-at-home parent adopts. If the children have yet to go to school, who is going to look after them during the day? Although grandparents and other members of the family can often help, this assumes they are willing and live near enough. Otherwise, can the family cope without a nanny? When slightly older, who is going to drive them to and from school and be available should they fall ill and need transport to the nearest bed? Can you rely rely on neighbors or the parents of other children at the same schools? Then there’s the question of all the cleaning and cooking? During the marriage or partnership, the men are not quick to volunteer to do the washing-up let alone any of the more demanding tasks. Why is this going to change should the cleaner disappear? Similarly, the father can buy in food but, in the long term, this is far more expensive than home cooking.
When you add up the additional costs of hiring all the people to replace the homemaker, it is more than the average breadwinner can afford. That is why is makes sense to insure the life of the stay-at-home soccer Mum. The couple should price both permanent and emergency help. For example, it is probably best to assume the current job would not last long if the father was continually having to take time off to deal with family problems at the school or home. The nature of the job may also be relevant if this involves a lot of traveling or work at unsocial hours. Making decisions about insurance is all about looking into the future. It costs nothing to get life insurance quotes through a site like this so you can price the premium rates. If there is any positive element in this, it is that the amount of cover needed to replace the missing partner is often less than you might expect. Adding this amount is relatively cheap life insurance.
Filed under Articles | Comment (0)Auto insurance and young drivers
Being a young driver isn’t the best thing with respect to auto insurance. All insurance companies regard teen drivers aged less than 25 as high-risk drivers and charge them respectively. And there’s a reason for such a pricing decision since the statistics aren’t on the younger drivers’ side. Teen drivers don’t have much driving experience while commonly showing a risk-taking behavior in traffic, which results in a higher number of insurance claims and serious accidents for this age group compared to all other demographic groups of car owners. Sometimes teen drivers can pay twice as more as their older peers for the same set of coverage from the same insurer. Sure, it’s quite disappointing but this doesn’t mean that you’re bound to pay a lot for having your car insured all the time. There are effective strategies for reducing insurance costs, and you may find them really useful if you don’t want to overpay for auto insurance.
Stay with your parents’ policy
Teens are known for their constant thirst for independence and individuality, which can sometimes take a strange form. Wanting a car of their own is certainly one of those forms, but it’s not as strange as the will to buy separate auto insurance for their car. When it comes to insurance, it’s better to stay under your parents’ policy as a written driver for as long as you can because it’ll be much cheaper than buying a policy on your own. The problem is that you have to reside in the same house as your parents in order to be included as a written driver and your no-claims experience under such a policy is not accumulated. However, it’s definitely a great way to start your insurance history until you are able to afford a separate policy.
Take the time to shop around
Comparison shopping is crucial when it comes to auto insurance and with all those opportunities the Internet delivers these days it’s really a crime to avoid comparing quotes from different insurers. Bear in mind that there will always be fluctuations in rates different companies will offer for the same policy with the equivalent coverage amounts included. So your aim is to find a policy that has the most competitive price with all the features you need. There are countless sites that allow you to compare quotes from different insurers in a matter of minutes, so comparison shopping is probably the easiest way to save on auto insurance for a teen driver.
Be a good student
As strange as it may sound, being a good student is welcomed by most insurance companies, and you can save a lot of money on auto insurance by getting excellent grades. Full-time students with an average of B and higher can opt for a special good student discount if they have a separate insurance policy. Insurers state that good students tend to be more responsible when it comes to driving and produce fewer accidents compared to their peers who aren’t as good at school or college.
Consider an older vehicle
Driving an expensive car is definitely a dream for most teenagers. And most of them who can actually afford to get one either with the help of their parents or using own money don’t hesitate buying a cool ride just to be able to impress their peers. Nevertheless, when it comes to insuring such a vehicle, the premiums can go sky high, especially if you’re on a separate policy. If auto insurance costs are a cause for concern, consider starting with a cheaper, maybe even used car that will be cheaper to insure. And once you accumulate enough driving experience or manage to avoid any claims for a couple of years in order to get the respective discount you may consider getting a better vehicle.
Filed under Articles | Comment (0)Home insurance and severe weather risks
We are only a few months into 2012 and, all the way across the midWest and the plains states, thousands of homeowners are picking up the pieces after the latest surge of tornadoes brought destruction in major population centers. Indeed, the last two complete years have broken records for the severity of the weather conditions and the total of the claims paid out. If the doomsayers are correct and climate change is a reality, we can expect to see more extreme weather all year round. Most people pull their policies and check the wording to ensure they have cover for their homes. That’s always the priority. To have a roof and four walls around you. Except there’s a new survey showing that about 60% of all policyholders fail to go on to the next step which is to protect the possessions in the home by producing a file containing proper evidence of the extent of the contents. They see the headline in the policy which is usually a maximum amount claimable – keeping this simple, insurers tend to make this a fixed percentage of the rebuilding costs. If you want more than this rough average, you have to ask for additional cover. At this point, you realize the need for a proper home inventory.
The survey discovered that even when people do have a list of the more expensive items kept in the home, less than half have receipts and only about a quarter have photographic records. Even worse, only a tiny percentage of people keep a back-up copy of their records outside the home. So, sadly, if their home blows away, so goes all the evidence. In these days of computer power, it’s not difficult to make a list and store it and pdfs of the receipts in the cloud. That way, whenever the insurance companies ask for copies – it’s remarkable how often they lose what you give them – you can just send them another copy. With the list in digital form, it also easy to keep it up to date. That means canceling property lost or thrown away, and adding all the new property as it arrives in your home. The better the records you keep, the more likely it is you will get a reasonable fair value settlement. So, in an ideal world, you would have a description, serial numbers and bar codes whenever available, and some statement about the current state. Remember, unless you buy a Rolls Royce policy, this is a not a new-for-old plan. You only get the amount needed to replace like-for-like. This makes it essential to have some idea of whether the couch is as new or in dire need of replacement.
There are some nice packages and apps that list all the different types of possession you have have in the home. These lists are excellent in prompting you. It’s far too easy to forget to record all the clothes, curtains, and workshop tools kept in the garage. Homeowners insurance cover is no use to you if all it pays is for rebuilding. An empty home is not a home. Put yourself in the right position to claim the full value of all the contents of your home. Make the home insurance policy work for you.
Filed under Articles | Comment (0)Insurance fraud on the road
Unfortunately for both insurers and their customers insurance fraud rates are increasing every year, causing a lot of additional costs and pushing up the rates for law-abiding insurance users. It is estimated that every year more than hundred thousand auto insurance claims are investigated as suspicious. Every fraudulent claim filed intentionally and paid by the insurer automatically raises the cost of insurance for all other customers, so in the end it’s us who pay for others’ scams. And what’s more disturbing is that under certain schemes normal drivers also become involved in scams, falling prey to their initial masterminds and forced to pay for things they shouldn’t. In order to avoid becoming a victim in such a situation it’s important for you to learn about some of the most common schemes and scams used on the road. Of course, they tend to change and evolve with time but the basis mostly remains the same with a set of schemes that are utilized the most:
Drive down
This scheme is applied when the victim tries to merge with the traffic from a minor road. The fraudulent driver gives a signal to the victim allowing him to drive but when he does so, the suspect crashes into him, subsequently denying any signal that the victim claims were given by the suspect driver.
Swoop and squat
Under this scheme, there are two cars working as a team to target their victim. The first one pulls in front of the victim and the second in front of the first car. When the second car pulls in does so in a way so the first car is seemingly forced to hit the brakes, making the victim’s car rear-end the first vehicle. This scheme is often executed at small narrow roads where it’s harder for the victim to avoid collision with the first car.
Start and stop
The victim’s and perpetrator’s vehicles are positioned in the same traffic lane, often stuck in a jam or waiting for the traffic light to switch. The suspect’s vehicle, which is stationed in front, starts driving and as the victim follows suddenly stops causing a rear-end collision.
Sideswipe
This scam is usually applied at busy intersections with double lane left turns. The perpetrator crosses the center line and as the victim enters the same turn sideswipes him, ultimately claiming that the victim entered his lane and caused the collision.
The best way to avoid falling victim to such schemes is driving cautiously and defensively. Always make sure that there’s plenty of room to avoid collision or hit the brakes if necessary. Besides, by applying to defensive driving courses you can also opt for a discount from your auto insurance provider.
However, if you ended up in such an accident there are also measures you can take in order to expose the fraud. First of all, make sure to call the police regardless of your fault and insist that a report is made. Note all the information about the other party involved, including the number of passengers, their names, contacts and license number of the driver. Furthermore, write down all the damage caused by the collision as well as the state of the other party’s car. Quite often the perpetrators will claim for body injury for people who weren’t in the car and state that the victim has caused more severe damage than it was actually at the site.
Filed under Articles | Comment (0)Replacing lost property
The whole point of any insurance deal is to shift the risk from your own pocket to the pockets of all the other insured. Spreading the costs among a big pool of other businesses reduces your own payments. But the main issue is always going to be the way in which the insurer values the loss if and when you make a claim. Although it’s an obvious statement that you do not want your own business to pay for replacing property used in the business, exactly how do you ensure the premium is less than the cost of replacement? Or, put the other way, that the sum you recover represents the loss you have suffered? In this calculation, there are three factors. One will be an assessment of the actual cash value of the individual items lost or damaged. The second will be the replacement cost. The third will be an assessment of whether there has been any other loss flowing from the loss of the individual assets.
The first can sometimes be termed a fair market value. The formula for calculating it will be the price paid less the depreciation. So, for example, your business may use a truck for delivery purposes. For tax purposes, you will be allowed to write down a percentage of the truck’s value every year. So, if the vehicle is seriously damaged, the actual cash value would be the book value measured against the average prices in the secondhand market for vehicles of a similar age. This reflects a basic truth that the standard policy will not buy new for old. As a general rule, you cannot make a profit out of the business insurance policy. If you got a new vehicle for one that was three-years old, you would be benefitting unfairly, particularly if the manufacturer’s price had increased over the three years.
The second formula simply pays out the cost of replacing the property. This is potentially a better deal. As an example, take the loss of stock whether as raw materials or for sale. Suppose you have a store of clay for making pottery. You want to be in no worse position so want the insurer to replace the volume of clay lost even though the price may have risen in the local market. It would be the same for any manufactured stock held for sale. Whether you manufactured it or bought it in, you need to replace it. Often this type of stock is circulating and will not be subject to depreciation so paying the extra premium rate for replacement may be better value.
Finally, has the business suffered other losses because the property was lost? Consequential losses are always a difficult area and this is something you need to discuss with your business insurance advisor. Say, for example, you are in a supply chain and subject to penalties if the parts you manufacture are not delivered on time. The next batch is destroyed in a fire and the penalty is applied. Now your loss is the cost of replacement plus the amount of the penalty. Business insurances is all about balancing the cost of the premium against the security you buy. Make sure you understand how the insurers value loss before you sign up for your next policy.
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